What McCain Should Do Next  —  Notwithstanding the hype about Barack Obama, here is where the presidential race stands: John McCain was within an average of 1.9% of his Democratic opponent in last week's daily Gallup tracking poll.  —  It shouldn't be this close.  Sen. Obama should be way ahead.

Kilpatrick will spend night in jail  —  Giles unmoved by mayor's apology  —  Judge Ronald Giles just sent Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick to jail moments after the mayor pleaded for forgiveness and admitted he made an unauthorized trip to Windsor on city business.

A Way Back to the High Road?  —  The first question I asked John McCain and then Barack Obama was: How do you feel about the tone and direction of the campaign so far?  —  No surprise.  Both men pronounced themselves thoroughly frustrated by the personal bitterness and negativism they have seen …

SPEAKER OF THE FLOP: PELOSI SELLS 2,737 COPIES OF BOOK  —  The most powerful woman in the history of American politics is suffering a humiliating defeat at the nation's bookstores, sales figures show.  —  In her first week at market, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi sold just 2,737 copies …

Win Points for McCain!  —  Spread John McCain's official talking points around the Web — and you could win valuable prizes!  —  That, in essence, is the McCain campaign's pitch to supporters to join its new online effort, one that combines the features of “AstroTurf” campaigning with the sort …

Guilty as Ordered  —  Now that was a real nail-biter.  The court designed by the White House and its Congressional enablers to guarantee convictions of high-profile detainees in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba — using evidence obtained by torture and secret evidence as desired — has held its first trial.

Obama: “America is no longer what it once was”  —  When presidential candidates answer questions from children about why they want the job, most will give an answer that uplifts the child and the candidate.  Not Barack Obama.  At a campaign stop in Elkhart, Indiana, a seven-year-old girl asked …

Race Takes Central Role in a Memphis Primary  —  In the culmination of a racially fraught Congressional campaign in Memphis, a black candidate is linking her liberal-leaning white primary opponent in Thursday's contest, Representative Steve Cohen, to the Ku Klux Klan in a television advertisement.

John McCain: My Pop-Culture Favorites  —  The presumptive Republican presidential nominee talks to EW about his picks in movies ("Viva Zapata!," Indiana Jones), TV shows ("Seinfeld," “The Wire"), singers (Roy Orbison, Usher), and a fictional president he admires

Exploding The Edwards Mistress Scandal  —  The Raleigh News & Observer, which unlike other newspapers has never declared itself too good for the John Edwards love-child scandal, is first with the angle that will probably at long last propel the sordid tale into the Times and Washington Post …

Obama adviser blames McCain ad for poll dip  —  By Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Washington and Edward Luce in Elkhart, Indiana  —  A senior adviser to Barack Obama has blamed recent attack advertisements comparing the Democratic presidential hopeful to celebrities Britney Spears and Paris Hilton …

not much to show  —  While I've been too busy to post for the last week, I've been following the saga of the provincial elections law closely.  When the Parliament finally adjourned without reaching agreement, I was not particularly happy to be proven correct about the political stalemate …

Obama's View on Abortion May Divide Catholics  —  The Obama campaign is being close-mouthed about its convention plans that may include Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, who is Roman Catholic and opposes abortion rights.

Dog-cloner denies she was Mormon sex kidnapper Joyce McKinney  —  The woman who had her pet dog cloned by South Korean scientists flatly denied early today that she was a bail abscondee accused of sexually assaulting and kidnapping a male Mormon missionary more than 30 years ago in Surrey.

Pakistani president to be impeached  —  Pakistan's fragile coalition government today announced plans to impeach President Pervez Musharraf, throwing the country into new political turmoil.  —  Musharraf was today plotting his response with advisers and finally cancelled an on-off trip to the opening ceremony of the Olympic games.